The following description includes information that may be useful in understanding the present invention. It is not an admission that any of the information provided herein is prior art, or relevant, to the presently described or claimed inventions, or that any publication or document that is specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art or a reference that may be used in evaluating patentability of the described or claimed inventions.
Diabetes mellitus is a chronic condition characterized by the presence of fasting hyperglycemia and the development of widespread premature atherosclerosis. Patients with diabetes have increased morbidity and mortality due to cardiovascular diseases, especially coronary artery disease. Vascular complications in diabetes may be classified as microvascular, affecting the retina, kidney and nerves and macrovascular, predominantly affecting for example coronary, cerebrovascular and peripheral arterial circulation.
The chronic hyperglycemia of diabetes is associated with long-term damage, dysfunction, and failure of various organs, especially the eyes, kidneys, nerves, heart, and blood vessels and long-term complications of diabetes include retinopathy with potential loss of vision; nephropathy leading to renal failure; peripheral neuropathy with risk of foot ulcers, amputation, and Charcot joints; and autonomic neuropathy causing gastrointestinal, genitourinary, and cardiovascular symptoms and sexual dysfunction.
Glycation of tissue proteins and other macromolecules and excess production of polyol compounds from glucose are among the mechanisms thought to produce tissue damage from chronic hyperglycemia. Diabetic patients have an increased incidence of atherosclerotic cardiovascular, peripheral vascular, and cerebrovascular disease. Hypertension, abnormalities of lipoprotein metabolism, and periodontal disease are also found in people with diabetes.
Hyperglycemia induces a large number of alterations in vascular tissue that potentially promote accelerated atherosclerosis. Currently, in addition to the nonenzymatic glycosylation of proteins and lipids, two other major mechanisms have emerged that encompass most of the pathologic alterations observed in the vasculature of diabetic animals and humans, namely, oxidative stress and protein kinase C (PKC) activation. These mechanisms are not independent. For example, hyperglycemia-induced oxidative stress promotes the formation of AGEs and PKC activation, and both type 1 and type 2 diabetes are independent risk factors for coronary artery disease (CAD), stroke, and peripheral arterial disease. Schwartz C. J., et al., “Pathogenesis of the atherosclerotic lesion. Implications for diabetes mellitus,” Diabetes Care 15:1156-1167 (1992); Stamler J., et al., “Diabetes, other risk factors, and 12-yr cardiovascular mortality for men screened in the Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial.” Diabetes Care 16:434-444 (1993). Atherosclerosis accounts for virtually 80% of all deaths among North American diabetic patients, compared with one-third of all deaths in the general North American population, and more than 75% of all hospitalizations for diabetic complications are attributable to cardiovascular disease. American Diabetes Association, “Consensus statement: role of cardiovascular risk factors in prevention and treatment of macrovascular disease in diabetes,” Diabetes Care 16:72-78 (1993).
The decline in heart disease mortality in the general U.S. population has been attributed to the reduction in cardiovascular risk factors and improvement in treatment of heart disease. However, patients with diabetes have not experienced the reduction in age-adjusted heart disease mortality that has been observed in nondiabetics, and an increase in age-adjusted heart disease mortality has been reported in diabetic women. Gu K, et al., “Diabetes and decline in heart disease mortality in U.S. adults,” JAMA 281:1291-1297 (1999). It has also been reported that diabetic subjects have more extensive atherosclerosis of both coronary and cerebral vessels than age- and sex-matched nondiabetic controls. Robertson W. B., & Strong J. P., “Atherosclerosis in persons with hypertension and diabetes mellitus,” Lab Invest 18:538-551 (1968). Additionally, it has been reported that diabetics have a greater number of involved coronary vessels and more diffuse distribution of atherosclerotic lesions. Waller B. F., et al., “Status of the coronary arteries at necropsy in diabetes mellitus with onset after age 30 years. Analysis of 229 diabetic patients with and without clinical evidence of coronary heart disease and comparison to 183 control subjects,” Am J Med 69:498-506 (1980).
Following large studies comparing diabetics with matched controls, it has also been reported that diabetic patients with established CAD undergoing cardiac catheterization for acute myocardial infarction, angioplasty, or coronary bypass have significantly more severe proximal and distal CAD. Granger C. B., et al., “Outcome of patients with diabetes mellitus and acute myocardial infarction treated with thrombolytic agents. The Thrombolysis and Angioplasty in Myocardial Infarction (TAMI) Study Group,” J Am Coll Cardiol 21:920-925 (1993); Stein B., et al., “Influence of diabetes mellitus on early and late outcome after percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty,” Circulation 91:979-989 (1995); Barzilay J. I., et al., “Coronary artery disease and coronary artery bypass grafting in diabetic patients aged > or =65 years [from the Coronary Artery Surgery Study (CASS) Registry],” Am J Cardiol 74:334-339 (1994)). Postmortem and angioscopic evidence also shows a significant increase in plaque ulceration and thrombosis in diabetic patients. Davies M. J., et al., “Factors influencing the presence or absence of acute coronary artery thrombi in sudden ischemic death,” Eur Heart J 10; 203-208 (1989); Silva J. A., et al. “Unstable angina. A comparison of angioscopic findings between diabetic and nondiabetic patients,” Circulation 92:1731-1736 (1995).
CAD is the leading cause of death in people with type 2 diabetes, regardless of duration of diabetes. Stamler I., et al., “Diabetes, other risk factors, and 12-yr cardiovascular mortality for men screened in the Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial,” Diabetes Care 16:434-444 (1993); Donahue R. P., & Orchard T. J., “Diabetes mellitus and macrovascular complications. An epidemiological perspective,” Diabetes Care 15:1141-1155 (1992). The increased cardiovascular risk is said to be particularly striking in women. Barrett Connor E. L., et al., “Why is diabetes mellitus a stronger risk factor for fatal ischemic heart disease in women than in men? The Rancho Bemardo Study,” JAMA 265:627-631 (1991). CAD is not confined to particular forms of diabetes, however, and is prevalent in both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. In type 1 diabetes, an excess of cardiovascular mortality is generally observed after the age of 30. Krolewski A. S., et al., “Magnitude and determinants of coronary artery disease in juvenile-onset, insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus,” Am J Cardiol 59:750-755 (1987). CAD risk was reported in this study to increase rapidly after age 40, and by age 55, 35% of men and women with type 1 diabetes die of CAD, a rate of CAD mortality that far exceeded that observed in an age-matched nondiabetic cohort. Id.
Diabetic nephropathy in type 1 diabetics also increases the prevalence of CAD. Nephropathy leads to accelerated accumulation of AGEs in the circulation and tissue and parallels the severity of renal functional impairment. Makita Z., et al., “Advanced glycosylation end products in patients with diabetic nephropathy,” N Engl J Med 325:836-842 (1991). In diabetic patients reaching end-stage renal disease, overall mortality has been reported to be greater than in nondiabetic patients with end-stage renal disease. The relative risk for age-specific death rate from myocardial infarction among all diabetic patients during the first year of dialysis is reportedly 89-fold higher than that of the general population. Geerlings W., et al., “Combined report on regular dialysis and transplantation in Europe, XXI,” Nephrol Dial Transplant 6 4]:5-29 (1991). It has also been reported that the most common cause of death in diabetic patients who have undergone renal transplantation is CAD, accounting for 40% of deaths in these patients. Lemmers M. J., & Barry J. M., “Major role for arterial disease in morbidity and mortality after kidney transplantation in diabetic recipients,” Diabetes Care 14:295-301 (1991).
It has been demonstrated that the degree and duration of hyperglycemia are the principal risk factors for microvascular complications in type 2 diabetes. The Diabetes Control and Complications Trial Research Group, “The effect of intensive treatment of diabetes on the development and progression of long-term complications in insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus,” N Eng J Med 329:977-986 (1993). However, it has also been said that there is no clear association between the extent or severity of macrovascular complications and the duration or severity of the diabetes, and an increased prevalence of CAD is apparent in newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes subjects has been reported. Uusitupa M., et al., “Prevalence of coronary heart disease, left ventricular failure and hypertension in middle-aged, newly diagnosed type 2 (non-insulin dependent) diabetic subjects,” Diabetologia 28:22-27 (1985). It has also been reported that even impaired glucose tolerance carries an increased cardiovascular risk despite minimal hyperglycemia. Fuller J. H., et al., “Coronary-heart-disease risk and impaired glucose tolerance. The Whitehall study,” Lancet 1:1373-1376 (1980).
There is also a worldwide trend towards an increasing prevalence of diabetes. The number of cases of type 2 diabetes is projected to increase from 135 million in 2000 to more than 300 million in 2025. This increase is related to an ageing of the population, increasing obesity, and low socio-economic status. See, WHO. The World Health Report 1997. As a consequence, mortality from diabetes has increased over the last decade whereas mortality from cardiovascular disease, stroke, and malignant diseases has remained static or declined. See, U.S. Center for Health Studies. The causes of premature mortality in type 2 diabetes comprise cardiovascular disease, 58%; cerebrovascular disease, 12%; nephropathy, 3%; diabetic coma, 1%; and malignancy, 11%.
Diabetic heart disease is further characterized by more severe CAD at a younger age, a 4-fold increase in frequency of heart failure, post-acute myocardial infarction and a disproportionate increase in left ventricular hypertrophy. See Struthers A. D., & Morris A. D., Lancet 359:1430-2 (2002). Subjects with type 2 diabetes also manifest a disproportionate increase in mortality within the first 24-hours post-acute myocardial infarction. Acute intervention can ameliorate this risk. See, Malmberg K., Br Med J 314:1512-5 (1997).
PCT Application No. PCT/NZ99/00161 (published as WO00/18392 on 6 Apr. 2000) relates to methods of treating a mammalian subject predisposed to and/or suffering from diabetes mellitus with a view to minimizing the consequences of macrovascular and microvascular damage to the patent which comprises, in addition to any treatment in order to control blood glucose levels, at least periodically controlling copper, for example, in the subject. An assay method is disclosed in PCT Application No. PCT/NZ99/00160 (published as WO00/18891 on 6 Apr. 2000). A range of different treatment agents are disclosed in PCT/NZ99/00161. These included copper chelating agents.
Metals are present naturally in the body and many are essential for cells (e.g., Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Zn). However, all metals are toxic at high concentrations. One reason metals may become toxic relates to their ability to cause oxidative stress, particularly redox active transition metals, which can take up or give off an electron (e.g., Fe2+/3+, Cu+/2±) that can give rise to free radicals that cause damage (Jones et al., “Evidence for the generation of hydroxyl radicals from a chromium (V) intermediate isolated from the reaction of chromate with glutathione,” Biochin. Biophys. Acta 286:652-655 (1991); Li, Y. & Trush, M. A., DNA damage resulting from the oxidation of hydroquinone by copper: role for a Cu(II)/Cu(I) redox cycle and reactive oxygen generation,” Carcinogenes 7:1303-1311 (1993)). Metals can replace other essential metals or enzymes, disrupting the function of these molecules, and can be toxic for this reason as well. Some metal ions (e.g., Hg+ and Cu+) are very reactive to thiol groups and may interfere with protein structure and function.
As noted herein, humans subject to type 2 diabetes or abnormalities of glucose mechanism are particularly at risk to the precursors of heart failure, heart failure itself, and other diseases of the arterial tree. It has been reported that more than 50% of patients with type 2 diabetes in Western countries die from the effects of cardiovascular disease. See, Stamler, et al., Diabetes Care 16:434-44 (1993). It has also been reported that even lesser degrees of glucose intolerance defined by a glucose tolerance test (impaired glucose tolerance, or “IGT”) still carry an increased risk of sudden death. See, Balkau, et al., Lancet 354:1968-9 (1999). For a long time, it was assumed that this reflected an increased incidence of coronary atherosclerosis and myocardial infarction in diabetic subjects. However, evidence is mounting that diabetes can catise a specific heart failure or cardiomyopathy in the absence of atherosclerotic coronary artery disease.
Cardiac function is commonly assessed by measuring the ejection fraction. A normal left ventricle ejects at least 50% of its end-diastolic volume each beat. A patient with systolic heart failure commonly has a left ventricular ejection fraction less than 30% with a compensatory increase in end-diastolic volume. Hemodynamic studies conducted on diabetic subjects without overt congestive heart failure have observed normal left ventricular systolic function (LV ejection fraction) but abnormal diastolic function suggesting impaired left ventricular relaxation or filling. See Regan, et al., J. Gun. Invest. 60:885-99 (1977). In a recent study, 60% of men with type 2 diabetes without clinically detectable heart disease were reported to have abnormalities of diastolic filling as assessed by echocardiography. See Poirier, et al., Diabetes Care 24:5-10 (2001). Diagnosis maybe made, for example, by non-invasive measurements. In the absence of mitral stenosis, mitral diastolic blood flow measured by Doppler echocardiography is a direct measure of left ventricular filling. The most commonly used measurement is the AIE ratio. Normal early diastolic filling is rapid and is characterized by an E-wave velocity of around 1 m/sec. Late diastolic filling due to atrial contraction is only a minor component, and the A-wave velocity is perhaps around 0.5 m/sec. This gives a normal AIE ratio of approximately 0.5. With diastolic dysfunction, early diastolic filling is impaired, atrial contraction increases to compensate, and the AIE ratio increases to more than 2.0.
Treatment, let alone reversal or amelioration, of diabetic cardiomyopathy is difficult and the options are limited. Tight control of blood glucose levels might prevent or reverse myocardial failure, although this may be true only in the early stages of ventricular failure. Angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors such as captopril improve survival in heart failure particularly in patients with severe systolic heart failure and the lowest ejection fractions. There are, however, various therapies that are not recommended for diabetic cardiomyopathy. For example, inotropic drugs are designed to improve the contraction of the failing heart. However, a heart with pure diastolic dysfunction is already contracting normally and it is believed that inotropic drugs will increase the risk of arrhythmias. Additionally, there appears to be no basis for the use vasodilator drugs that reduce after-load and improve the emptying of the ventricle because ejection fraction and end-diastolic volume are already normal. After-load reduction may even worsen cardiac function by creating a degree of outflow obstruction.
Diuretics are the mainstay of therapy for heart failure by controlling salt and water retention and reducing filling pressures. However, they are contraindicated in diastolic dysfunction where compromised cardiac pump function is dependent on high filling pressures to maintain cardiac output. Venodilator drugs such as the nitrates, which are very effective in the management of systolic heart failure by reducing pre-load and filling pressures, are understood to be poorly tolerated by patients with diastolic heart failure. Ejection fraction and end-systolic volume are often normal and any reduction in pre-load leads to a marked fall in cardiac output. Finally, there is concern about the use of beta-blockers in heart failure because of their potential to worsen pump function. There is also concern regarding the administration of beta-blockers to patients with diabetes who are treated with sulphonylurea drugs and insulin due to a heightened risk of severe hypoglycaemia.
Thus, it will be understood that the mechanisms underlying various disorders of the heart, the macrovasculature, the microvasculature, and the long-term complications of diabetes, including associated heart diseases and conditions and long-term complications, are complex and have long been studied without the discovery of clear, safe and effective therapeutic interventions. There is a need for such therapies, which are described and claimed herein.
It is also understood there is a continuing need for pharmaceutical compositions capable of addressing damage arising from disease states, disorders or conditions of the cardiovascular tree (including the heart) and dependent organs (e.g., retina, kidney, nerves, etc.) that involve, concern or relate to, for example, elevated or undesired copper levels such as elevated non-intracellular free copper values levels. The described and claimed therapies also provide low dose controlled release and/or low dose extended release compositions useful for the reversal and/or amelioration of structural damage in a subject whether diabetic or not, having copper levels capable of diminishment in order to treat, for example, the heart, the macrovasculature, the microvasculature, and/or long-term complications of diabetes, including cardiac structure damage. Cardiac structure damage includes, but is not limited to, for example, atrophy, loss of myocytes, expansion of the extracellular space and increased deposition of extracellular matrix (and its consequences) and/or coronary artery structure damage selected from at least media damage (the muscle layer) and intima damage (the endothelial layer) (and its consequences), systolic function, diastolic function, contractility, recoil characteristics and ejection fraction.
Diseases, disorders and conditions relating to the cardiovascular tree and/or dependent organs that may be treated by the methods and compositions of the present invention include, for example, any one or more of (1) disorders of the heart muscle (cardiomyopathy or myocarditis) such as idiopathic cardiomyopathy, metabolic cardiomyopathy which includes diabetic cardiomyopathy, alcoholic cardiomyopathy, drug-induced cardiomyopathy, ischemic cardiomyopathy, and hypertensive cardiomyopathy; (2) atheromatous disorders of the major blood vessels (macrovascular disease) such as the aorta, the coronary arteries, the carotid arteries, the cerebrovascular arteries, the renal arteries, the iliac arteries, the femoral arteries, and the popliteal arteries; (3) toxic, drug-induced, and metabolic (including hypertensive and/or diabetic disorders of small blood vessels (microvascular disease) such as the retinal arterioles, the glomerular arterioles, the vasa nervorum, cardiac arterioles, and associated capillary beds of the eye, the kidney, the heart, and the central and peripheral nervous systems; and, (4) plaque rupture of atheromatous lesions of major blood vessels such as the aorta, the coronary arteries, the carotid arteries, the cerebrovascular arteries, the renal arteries, the iliac arteries, the femoral arteries and the popliteal arteries.